State delays Brown Line funding

24 Metra projects also impacted

(AP) -- The state has refused to release funding for the upcoming rehabilitation of the Chicago Transit Authority's Brown Line, along with 24 Metra rail station and parking lot projects, local transportation officials said.

The state has withheld about $45 million for the Brown Line project and $13.6 million for Metra projects, officials said.

"We have been kind of getting the runaround," said Joseph Costello, chief financial officer of the Regional Transportation Authority.

The release of the money is tied to the RTA's amount of bonding for capital projects, Illinois Transportation Secretary Tim Martin said Wednesday.

The RTA will receive the funding once the state has a guarantee in writing that the RTA will not exceed a state-mandated cap, Martin said.

"We're not playing politics at all," Martin said. "We're just trying to make sure in real tight financial times that every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed."

The state has agreed to pay the debt service on $1.162 billion in multiyear transit bonds. The cap is $1.3 billion and the state has asked for a letter from the RTA promising not to go over that amount, Martin said.

The RTA intended to send a letter Thursday with a promise not to exceed the cap, Costello said.